Take Harvard and MIT Classes for Free!

July 9, 2012

Two Elite Academic Institutions Are Using a New Online Education Initiative to Offer Students Free Courses
By Sarah Shemkus, Salary.com contributing writer

Two of the country’s premier academic institutions — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University — have joined forces to launch an online education initiative that might just “reinvent education,” according to Anant Agarwal, president of the new program.

Dubbed edX, the program is based on MITx, a similar initiative launched by the science and technology school earlier this year. EdX will act as a sort of umbrella organization, allowing participating institutions to offer free, online courses from their curricula. Harvard and MIT are the initial partners in the program, but already other universities are expressing interest in participating, Agarwal said.

“We’ve had an extraordinary amount of interest from a large number of universities, in the United States and around the world,” he said.

There will be no admissions requirements; anyone with an internet connection and the drive to learn can enroll. The online courses are intended to be as rigorous as the versions offered to full-time students at Harvard and MIT. The online learning software platform used by edX was developed at MIT; courses will include videos, reading materials, and discussion forums that allow students to interact with instructors and each other.

Upon completion of courses, students will be able to pay a small fee to receive a certificate attesting that they mastered that material.

To learn more about this unique program and opportunity, or to read the article in its entirety, please click here.

Class of 2012: More Jobs, Bigger Paychecks

April 5, 2012

From CNNMoney.com

This year’s college graduates are being offered more jobs and fatter paychecks.

Meanwhile, they have more jobs to choose from. Employers expect to hire 10.2% more graduates this year than they did last year, according to NACE’s survey of 160 employers.

These employers have posted 15,767 job openings for college graduates this year — up about 10% from the 14,341 that were posted for the Class of 2011 and more than triple the mere 5,174 job postings for the Class of 2010.

Remarkable hiring stories
But the competition is steep, with employers reporting that they have received nearly 33 applications for every job posting, up from 21 applications per posting last year.

The major in highest demand is engineering, with 69% of employers in that field saying they are hiring graduates. Business majors are next on the list, with 63% of employers hiring. Accounting, Computer Science and Economics are also among the top five most-desired majors.

Members of the Class of 2012 are being offered median starting salaries of $42,569 — up 4.5% from last year, a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows.

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